Looking for advice on the best neighborhood in Savannah, GA (Commerce: rentals, violent crime)

[Newsboy]

What's important and notable isn't so much what is or isn't happening on 37th (and other corridors like Drayton, Whitaker, Abecorn, Henry and Anderson) but what is happening on the immediate blocks adjacent to those streets. There's a amazing amount of renovation and new construction taking place on many of those side streets. You have to get off the one-way express streets to see a lot of it, however, and many people just don't take the time to do that.

Back in the winter, I became friends with a lady from Florida who was doing a short-term, 3-month rental in an old church at the corner of Barnard and Duffy, about 2 blocks SW of Forsyth Park (a block north of the SCAD fashion school and the Streamline Diner).

She had several parties, and I got to meet lots of her neighbors -- many of whom were short-term "snowbird" residents like her. It is an AWESOME neighborhood -- tons of really unique rental properties, old duplex-type boarding houses occupied by Scaddies, a couple of B&Bs and small inns (yes, that far south) and of course THE CHURCH -- which was one of the most amazing renovations I've ever seen! The owner was getting $3,000 a month each for multiple loft apartments in this old gothic-style church building that had served as home to Lutherans, Greek Orthodox and Baptist congregations through the years. One apartment had the balcony intact (bedroom) and a bathroom in the bell tower. Another utilized the choir loft, and the old baptistery had been turned into a whirlpool tub! It was amazing!

Now, I'm not going to lie: Two blocks west was Montgomery Street and a block beyond that, the projects on MLK. But this neighborhood was perfectly safe and thriving.

Pockets just like that can be found everywhere between Forsyth Park and Victory Drive.

[elkelives]

How about this one on Seiler? Safe, not safe, in middle somewhere?
1125 Seiler Ave, Savannah, GA 31404 - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - realtor.com®

[pink caddy]

Originally Posted by elkelives

How about this one on Seiler? Safe, not safe, in middle somewhere?
1125 Seiler Ave, Savannah, GA 31404 - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - realtor.com®

Not safe. Too far East. Stay below 900 block at this time. Besides, believe it or not, that house is overpriced by 25 K

[elkelives]

Funnily enough, Pink Caddy, I think I saw this exact same house a year ago pre-paint job for 25K, which would make your estimate exactly right.

[Newsboy]

I'm not familiar with Seiler Avenue. Whereabouts is that (in relationship to other things)? I guess I could just google it ....

I'm a big fan of Baldwin Park presently, if everybody knows where that is: Atlantic Avenue, north side of Victory. Some very nice homes and duplex apartments in there.

[pink caddy]

Seiler disrupts the numbering system of 35, 36, 37,streets,LOL. It comes between one of the streets.

[pink caddy]

Originally Posted by elkelives

Funnily enough, Pink Caddy, I think I saw this exact same house a year ago pre-paint job for 25K, which would make your estimate exactly right.

Yep, when my estimates are wrong, on the other hand, I don't put food on my table.

[elkelives]

As Pink Caddy says, between 37 and 38, half a block east of Waters. I remember when my banker in Beaufort said Waters was now known as Cocaine Alley. I used to walk barefoot to the dime store on Waters to buy pencils and penny candy. Yikes. I am feeling really old right now.

[hazfora]

Originally Posted by masonbauknight

I grew up in Savannah but have been in the NY area for decades. Gentrification in the 1980s and 1990s transformed much of Manhattan and Brooklyn, but Savannah's gentrification is still very much ongoing (and has quite a ways to go). That includes trendy areas like the Victorian District and Starland, extolled beyond all reason by some City-Data posters. These areas might have nice architecture and old Savannah charm, but living there will give you the same level of paranoia of Chelsea and the Upper West Side in the 1970s and early 1980s. After nightfall especially, it really can feel very uncomfortable. The rents are more civilized than in the Historic District, but your neighbors might not be. One has to be very careful about the new hipster/trendy neighborhoods in Savannah, so be direct with real estate agents about it. Concern about safety in Savannah is never misplaced.

Whoa. That gives me pause and reason to dispel my romantic notion of Savannah's gentrification. I lived in Manhattan in the late 1970s thru mid-1980s, Long Island City after that thru mid-1990s (across the East River, now an expensive superhyped area). I lived on the east side close to Yorkville and I had no fear walking around in the neighborhood (but not up to Harlem, then; now it's trendy) and even lower Manhattan, including the Bowery (for cheap shopping!), Little Italy (Mafia grounds), Tribeca (lots of abandoned industrial buildings), Chinatown (better than San Francisco's) and surrounding neighborhoods, and if I'm alone, never after 10pm. I worked in the Wall St. area and wasn't afraid to take the subway home even as late as 10pm. I took taxis if I know I'll be later than that. Of course, I took note of my surroundings and was always on guard, but that didn't deter me from exploring the neighborhoods, not just my immediate one. So I'm always comparing the "crime factor" in other cities with what was Manhattan then -- the era spanning the Koch administration and Guilliani's entry (who was responsible for cleaning up the city).

Did you live in Manhattan during those days? I wanted to know if the kind of discomfort you are talking about in Savannah is similar to that era. Of course, it would be a different story if I lived in the same building or neighborhood where drugs and shootings are not just occasional random happenings. I would never want to chance that. Are there areas in Savannah that are like that and are those areas too close for comfort to the "nicer" areas?

[hazfora]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

What's important and notable isn't so much what is or isn't happening on 37th (and other corridors like Drayton, Whitaker, Abecorn, Henry and Anderson) but what is happening on the immediate blocks adjacent to those streets. There's a amazing amount of renovation and new construction taking place on many of those side streets. You have to get off the one-way express streets to see a lot of it, however, and many people just don't take the time to do that.

Back in the winter, I became friends with a lady from Florida who was doing a short-term, 3-month rental in an old church at the corner of Barnard and Duffy, about 2 blocks SW of Forsyth Park (a block north of the SCAD fashion school and the Streamline Diner).

She had several parties, and I got to meet lots of her neighbors -- many of whom were short-term "snowbird" residents like her. It is an AWESOME neighborhood -- tons of really unique rental properties, old duplex-type boarding houses occupied by Scaddies, a couple of B&Bs and small inns (yes, that far south) and of course THE CHURCH -- which was one of the most amazing renovations I've ever seen! The owner was getting $3,000 a month each for multiple loft apartments in this old gothic-style church building that had served as home to Lutherans, Greek Orthodox and Baptist congregations through the years. One apartment had the balcony intact (bedroom) and a bathroom in the bell tower. Another utilized the choir loft, and the old baptistery had been turned into a whirlpool tub! It was amazing!

Now, I'm not going to lie: Two blocks west was Montgomery Street and a block beyond that, the projects on MLK. But this neighborhood was perfectly safe and thriving.

Pockets just like that can be found everywhere between Forsyth Park and Victory Drive.

This sounds just like Manhattan to me during the Koch-Guilliani eras. In that sense, Manhattan is truly a most diversified city. There are no fenced-in neighborhoods. You walk a few blocks from your safe abode - and walking is the preferred mode of transport --and the "air" changes. What makes it "safer" though is the sheer number of people that walk the streets everyday, even at night, so there is safety in numbers. But I still can't visualize just how bad crime is in Savannah (where you live?) -- I guess I need to pay a long visit to see for myself. How's the police presence there and how fast do they act? Is there blatant police corruption?